9/10
Great race, not much overtaking, but a lot of good strategies.
Lotus is the best handling the tyres.
About pace, i think Lotus, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes (if they decided 3 stops since the start, i think Hamilton could have a chance to finish on the podium) are close.

You’re right. In my comment, I was mocking the widely popular internet misconception about 0-10 scale, where if, say, 7/10 is given, some people think “Meh, that’s NOT the best score” or with 4/10 they don’t think “That’s almost average”, but rather “That’s terrible”.

I think this is why thumbs up/thumbs down voting system was implemented all around the internet. Before, people voted either 1 star or 5 stars, 1-2 or 8-10 and so on. People seem to completely miss the “middle ground” when it comes to voting.

5/10.
Far too much of the easier DRS/Tyre related passing for my liking.

Watching Perez get mugged & be totally defenseless to stop it because of the effect of the DRS & tyres was just stupid to watch & was the same later on watching Sutil 5 seconds a lap slower with cars just cruising easily by him.

This current style F1 is seriously starting to kill my interest in F1, I just don’t appreciate watching passing become so easy that its boring to watch & watching drivers been completely defenseless against it.

Not for Perez, but look at how the super-softs performed for god’s sake both in the first part of the race and on Sutil’s car at the end! Perez and Button simply didn’t feel the effects of the tyres acting up because McLaren just got the car fundamentally wrong but that doesn’t mean the Pirellis are spot-on.

itâ€™s still the the fastest driver-car-combination who wins the race

Not the case here. The fastest car winning would have meant Ferrari or Red Bull or maybe Merc and the fastest driver Massa, Vettel or Hamilton. Today was about the most equillibrated drive and the car that was easiest on its tyres. Simple as that.

If you think the fastest car and the fastest driver are variables determined by whoever crosses the finish line first, you got the whole motor racing concept wrong, I’m afraid. Let’s just agree to disagree here.

I’ll disagree then. The figures will show in no uncertain terms that Kimi in his Lotus had the highest average speed over the full race distance.
Therefore the fastest car/driver combination won the race.

Cook up however many “what if’s” you like, this will not alter the fact that the winning driver was faster than everyone else.

The tyres, as Hamilton pointed out earlier in the week, are the same for everybody. Teams have built their cars with these challenges in mind.

You can’t just exclude one variable and say “Red Bull were fastest if you discount the effect of the tyres.” It’d be the same as arguing who would be the fastest if the cars didn’t have engines, or wheels. It’s not relevant, because they’re part of the overall package.

The tyres, as Hamilton pointed out earlier in the week, are the same for everybody. Teams have built their cars with these challenges in mind.

The tyres are the same for everybody but they do not behave the same for everybody. Teams to build their cars with these challenges in mind but (unlike the engines and other components your refer to) not everything about the Pirellis is a known-factor, that’s the difference. Plus, if you take the top teams into account, they either build their own engines or get them supplied along with the support, the data, everything. Tyres are just consumable goods supplied by a third party, so there’s a different level of comparison there.

And yes, I can say one team could be the fastest, excluding the effects on the tyres (the negative effects, out of the usual performance window that applies to everybody). It’s just like saying Red Bull and Vettel were fastest in Valencia last year until the alternator gave in. Which is perfectly true.

Either way, it’s the start of 2012 with bipolar rubber once again. Pirelli have learned NOTHING.

Either way, itâ€™s the start of 2012 with bipolar rubber once again. Pirelli have learned NOTHING.

Actually this is exactly what they intended and it served up some unpredictable action and indeed results.
It may not be the purists way to race F1 but it’s the way that is maintaining a significant level of interest for a sport that needs as much interest as it can maintain for lots of $$$$$’s.

What makes you say that the fastest car-driver did not win? Kimi set the fastest lap on lap 57(i think) with tyres which were 4-5 laps older.I’d say that was pretty fast.
As for tyres, i remember in older “classic F1″ times they used to have the special qualifying only tyres and engines which wouldnt last more than 5-6 laps
Dont see much difference.

Perez was defenseless because his car is bad, itâ€™s not tyresâ€™ fault.

The car was not good, However him getting passed as easily as he was earlier in the race was purely down to the tyres. If you looked at the timing screen at that time he was 6 seconds slower than he had been a few laps earlier & than he was after he pitted.

If the loss of performance in these unfit for purpose tyres was not so stupidly high then he’d have been able to put up a decent defense.

I’ve said this before but everyone goes on about Montreal 2010 been what Pirelli is doing, But they have totally failed at it!
In Montreal in 2010 the Bridgestone’s were suffering higher than normal wear, However the drop-off was not so high & the performance difference between worn/fresh was not so high that racing between 2 cars on tyres at different stages of wear was impossible & that meant cars on worn tyres could still defend.

On the Pirelli’s if your on worn tyres & someone’s coming at you 3-5 seconds a lap faster then your completely defenceless & to me that is not racing & certainly the ‘passing’ it produces ain’t exciting to watch as a fan!

9/10
The race was a lot better than I expected after the qualifying result. Though it was pretty clear by halfway how the various strategies were going to play out, it was still entertaining waiting for them to work out. I think the relative lack of overtaking was compensated for by the uncertainty of the tyres and it being the first race of the season.

A solid race, juggling for position for most of the race, sutil providing a teaser. Apart from Mclaren, maybe Merc., the pace is indeed a bit as if development continues from Brazil, but we only know that now it is over. Enjoyed it a lot 8/10.